Sports

Baseball in Venezuela

Not-so-sweet home

VENEZUELA has been Major League Baseball's (MLB) great international success story over the last two decades. In 1994 just 19 Venezuelans appeared in an MLB game; by 2010 90 did. The exploits in America of superstars like Miguel Cabrera and Félix Hernández have brought joy and pride to their countrymen, and occasionally given a powerful propaganda tool to Hugo Chávez, the baseball-mad president.

Even as Venezuelan athletes prove their mettle in the United States, however, concerns about politics and security in the country have caused MLB teams to cut back on their local operations, and players to shun the popular Venezuelan winter league. Those worries will surely grow following the kidnapping of Wilson Ramos (pictured), a catcher for the Washington Nationals. He is the first major leaguer to be abducted in the country.

On November 9th a small group of armed men drove up to Mr Ramos's modest family home in Valencia, arguably Venezuela's baseball capital, which sits 150km west of Caracas. They approached the home, pointed their guns at Mr Ramos, and dragged him into their car in plain view of his relatives. Venezuelan authorities say they have recovered the vehicle and announced on Twitter that they have confirmed Mr Ramos is still alive, although they did not disclose the source of their information. But the kidnappers have not yet contacted anyone to demand a ransom.

Venezuelans often try to seek refuge from their country's troubles in the delights of their national sport. But the game has become such big business that it could never have remained immune from the wave of violence gripping the country. A rarity before the turn of the century, kidnapping has reached epidemic proportions. A projection by the national statistical institute, based on a survey of victims, suggested that by mid-2009 the annual figure had reached almost 17,000. The vast majority were so-called “express kidnaps” lasting less than a day. But professional kidnappers such as those who were almost certainly behind the seizure of Mr Ramos are often an offshoot of drug gangs, who in turn have links with leftist guerrillas in neighbouring Colombia.

Major league players and their families are particularly vulnerable. Anyone can read on the internet, for example, that Mr Ramos earned $415,000 in 2011. In recent years relatives of several players have been taken for ransom. In 2005, the mother of Ugueth Urbina (who is now serving a jail sentence himself for murder) was rescued by police after five months in the hands of kidnappers. They were mostly Colombian, and 600kg (1,300 pounds) of cocaine were found at the scene. In 2008 the brother of Henry Blanco was killed by his captors. While the official reason fewer and fewer major leaguers play Venezuelan winter ball is fear of injury—only a dozen or so still come home to play during the American off-season—many admit privately that safety is their main concern. High earners such as Bobby Abreu employ bodyguards when they visit. Teams have also had to increase their expenditure on security to ward off a wave of attempted armed robberies of their local academies.

The virulent anti-American rhetoric of Mr Chávez, a leftist who joined the army hoping to make it as (fittingly) a left-handed pitcher in Venezuela's military baseball league, has further unnerved players and teams. Exchange controls and other restrictive laws can make doing business a headache. Government officials have murmured about taxing signing bonuses. And earlier this year, the parliament passed a new sports law that many see as threatening the very existence of a local professional baseball league. It requires that private sponsorship revenues—which make up almost three-quarters of the winter league's income—be allocated according to guidelines laid down by the government-run National Sports Institute. The debate over the law made it clear that the government aspires to control sports bodies just as it does other areas of national life.

As a result, MLB clubs have been packing their bags. In contrast to the Dominican Republic, where all 30 MLB teams operate baseball academies to capture local talent, just five will remain open next year, down from 21 in 2002. The pioneering Houston Astros left in 2008 after 20 years.

Although no MLB team can afford to ignore the Venezuelan talent market, most are looking for other ways to sign up future stars, such as joint ventures with local teams. Upon signing, usually at age 16, players for teams without local academies are now quickly whisked off to the safer Dominican Republic. Proud Venezuelan baseball men, who see their chief Latin American rival in the sport as a far less developed country, take this as a slap in the face. But under Mr Chávez's rule, such snobbery seems ever more out of date.

All of the abductions are ridiculous. 17,000 kidnappings is unheard of and needs to be put to an end. Safety of children is not only important but the fact that loved ones are being taken away because of money and baseball is just out right absurd. The MLB players have worked hard to get to where they are today and should not have to worry about the protection of not only themselves but their families as well. The kidnapping of the National's catcher Wilson Ramos needs to be resolved and further protection of Venezuelan MLB players and families needs to be looked into more.

Its sad that it takes a celebrity to be kidnapped to bring light to 17,000 other abductions. Chavez needs to get his country under control, if no one is safe, then Venezuela will cease to exist as the country it is now.

Enough is enough, this has happened way too much recently. Venezuela gets a huge amount of revenue from their Major League Players, if this keeps happening it will cause players to not want to live in Venezuela and would therefore effect their economy. It would benefit Venezuela if they made laws to prevent this from happening so often.

I don't think that anything will change in Venezuala with Chavez ruling. It seems the only thing happening is the chance of the talent in Venezuela that would be recognized will be decreased immensely due to the MLB camps leaving them. It only hurts them as most of the prospective Venezuelans trying to play major league baseball will probably go to the Dominican Republic or somewhere near there.